The Cyberlaw Podcast: Will AI Save the Internet From Vladimir Putin ... and Matt Drudge?

Our guest is Peter W. Singer, co-author with Emerson T. Brooking of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. Peter’s book is a fine history of the way the Internet went wrong in the Age of Social Media. He thinks we’re losing the Like Wars, and I tend to agree. It’s a deep conversation that turns contentious when we come to his prescriptions, which I see as reinstating the lefty elite that ran journalism for decades, this time empowered by even less self-doubt—and AI that can reproduce its prejudices at scale and without transparency.

In the News Roundup, Megan Reiss and Peter Singer join me in commenting on the White House and Pentagon cyber strategies. Bottom line: better than last time, plenty more room to improve.

The downside of sanctions. China has joined with Russia in protesting sanctions on Russian weapons sellers that spilled over to the Chinese military. Maury Shenk and I worry about the risk that overuse of sanctions will create a powerful alliance of countries determined to neutralize the sanctions weapon.

Is it reckless to speculate that the gas fires in Massachusetts could be a cyberattack? I think it’s a fair question, to which we may not have the answer. Nick Weaver (mostly) persuades me I’m wrong.

Amazon finds itself in the sights of the European Commission over its dual role in hosting third party sellers. Maury explains why.

Putin’s enemies list, or a part of it, is disclosed when Google warns Senate staffers that their Gmail has been attacked. Maury and I congratulate Steptoe alum Robert Zarate for making the cut. Looks like the Mirai botnet kids will be sentenced to help the FBI on cyber investigations. And Megan sees the hand of Robert Zarate—now officially the Zelig of cyber conflict—in Marco Rubio’s letter to Apple asking why it was so slow to stop an app from sending American user data to China.

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.

Stewart A. Baker is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He returned to the firm following 3½ years at the Department of Homeland Security as its first Assistant Secretary for Policy. He earlier served as general counsel of the National Security Agency.